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Jul 20, 2014

This post is brought to you by my husband. I've been slacking in the creative area lately and as my husband was putting this together I thought it would be cool to share it with my readers.

We spent a lot of time going to barbecues this summer when we vacationed in Texas. I noticed that almost everyone had an awesome bottle cap opener with catcher outside on their porch or patio and my daughters loved it! My husband found a really cool, rustic looking Texas bottle opener on Amazon, but just couldn't find any bottle cap catcher that he thought matched the vintage look he was going for. Either my love for mason jars or fact that we found tons left behind in our attic from the previous owners sparked an idea to catch those bottle caps!

//First you figure where you want to hang the jar and pre-drill a whole in one of slits in the hose clamp because this will make it much easier once its time to permanently drill it to your surface. Something to keep in mind is that you will want the jar to be slightly further behind your bottle opener underneath due to the jar curving a bit in so it catch at just the right length. (see above the opener is adhered to my window ledge not the same wall as the jar)

//Next measure enough heat shrink to the same length as your hose clamp then slip it over and begin using a lighter to shrink onto your hose clamp. Make sure not to leave it one spot too long because it will burn! Just slowly go back and forth and you'll see it magically form to the clamp much like your kids shrinky dink jewelry!

//Finally find that predrilled hole and screw it in and once secure slip jar in and tighten with the screw that is attached to the hose clamp and voila done!

I love the look of the faux leather, but my husband actually thought of using it for better securing purposes. He didn't want to have to worry about it possibly falling over time with the metal constantly rubbing against the glass. All material can be found at your local hardware store for under a couple of dollars and it literally took my husband 15 minutes to install. So overall a good project to do while we still have a few more weeks of summer to enjoy at your backyard bbqs or even all year round! Enjoy!

Jan 19, 2014

Today was filled with silliness, junk food, laughing, and cuddles. We woke up this morning loving on our little one today. Sister made her a homemade birthday card. I took her to eat her favorite breakfast. She got to pick out a favorite toy. I gave her a list of ideas on where she wanted to go and get her wiggles out and she picked chuck e cheese. I think she just loves the motorized ride on games.

We came back home and sang happy birthday over some homemade cupcakes and ice cream. Then ended the night with a balloon dance party and movie.
Its always so hard being away from family on milestones as these and even harder not having her daddy here. She is a winter baby which even limits outdoor activities as well that's why I try my hardest to make birthdays special for her. Even if that means staying up until 2 am making cupcakes because my original birthday cake was squashed when I realized I didn't have any cake pans, but thank goodness I found some cupcake liners in my craft stash. And having my whole house covered in glitter because I wanted to make her a homemade sign. (next time I'm buying glitter scrapbook paper to save the mess)

She has made our life fuller and brighter. I love when she smiles you can see in her eyes that we are all just crazy about her. I truly believe I was put on this earth for these two little girls. Times have been rough lately, but I'm appreciative of days like this to celebrate what a blessing it is to have such a healthy, growing, vibrant little girl in my life.

Dec 31, 2013

As some of you may know my little family is trying to get through our 3rd deployment. I always feel like I go through the same stages. At first I'm pumped up that I can do it. Then after 2 weeks we feel the emptiness. Then comes the busy busy busy activities to distract us, but there is always that space that just cannot be filled. After a few more weeks it feels exhausting to just get over that hump to the half way mark. As if time is just dragging until our reunion and it feels like it is just not getting any closer.

But time is passing! We've made it over the hill! We've made it through 3 major holidays just us 3 and I thought it would be nice to start a countdown for my dolls to understand. I've seen this before, it's nothing fancy. Just a simple paper chain with the remaining days of this deployment. The girls just take turns tearing a chain as each day ends. Pretty easy right?

It all started with some pretty scrapbook paper I picked up in the dollar section at Target.

A rotary cutter and self healing mat really made this fast and easy.

I just took few sheets at a time and tried to get 10 strips out of each print.

Then used a a glue stick to lightly glue the ends together. This is the part that took the longest due to the fact that there are still quite a few days left in our countdown, but the girls helped out with this:)

And done!

I think it helps us all understand the concept of time and it is in fact passing and that we are all so strong getting though this. The girls love it!

Dec 7, 2013

Christmas is something I look forward to all year. Covering the house in garlands and lights just automatically cheers everyone up. Living in such a cold climate we have to stay indoors about 90% of the time during winter so I try to surround us in fun, colorful things!

This is our first Christmas in our NEW house and couldn't wait to see how our little cottage looks in the wintertime.

However my husband is also deployed this Christmas which is huge bummer. I have to do the shoveling and cookie baking. De-icing of the car and hot chocolate brewing. You get the picture;) Not having my best friend here during the holidays just makes it incomplete. It pretty much stinks without him here, but I have to make the best of things in situations like this.

I thought I should take photos of our house decorated for the holidays so my husband can see bits and pieces and pretend he is here with us.

Most of our decorations were thrifted, from the dollar store, or from the Target dollar section.

Come on in and enjoy a little peek into our house!

I so didn't pose him there..he is just that stinkin cute!

Oh just vintage christmasy goodness everywhere, we are just missin' you know who!

Apr 3, 2013

We've been getting some warm days around these parts. Around low 60s for the high..pretty dang nice. Man, but once that sun starts to set or clouds cover the sun for just a bit you can feel that chilly, mountain breeze. Its so tricky because I want to take out the dollies' summer clothes, but you know right around the corner it's probably going to snow! Crazy Utah weather :(

Anywhoo.. I was organizing my garage on one of those nice, sunny afternoons and found a hoodie I was going to donate and decided to upcycle it into something I've been wanting to try. It's nice and cozy and smooth on the inside, but was just a bit to short my my liking. Deconstructing it a bit and adding a little bit here and there it turned into this!

Cute huh? She looks so cozy in it:) Its perfect for those cool evenings and was oh so easy to make!

Here's how I did it:

I started with a plain adult hoodie. Size small used here which made a size 2T/3T poncho.

Next I cut off the arms, pulled out the drawstring of the hood and, cut off the bottom about 3 inches to make it shorter. Didn't hem it because the fleece doesn't fray.

Didn't take pictures of these steps.

I seam ripped the kangaroo pocket the positioned it higher so her little hands could fit in it.

Sewed up the sides from where I cut the arms off then made slits on the sides where her arms would go.

Used embroidery thread to blanket stitch the edges of the slits to make it look more finished.

Turned hoodie part inside out then sewed it smaller to fit her head and used the original hem as a guide.

Cut a slit does the neck and blanket stitched with embroidery thread for extra detail. Then added a little more design to the pouch by embroidering more around the edges, but used white thread to stand out.

Still felt like it needed a little more oomph so I added lining to the hood with some vintage, floral fabric.

And that was it! New poncho!

Aww look at that grumpy little face. She was upset because I wouldn't let her climb on those rocks..crazy girl! She still looks super cute though ;o)

I love that fabric and I'm sad I'm running out boo! But at least its getting some use out of it.

I love how easily she can just throw it on now I need to make one for big dolly, but I'm probably going to need to buy a large adult hoodie. I can just see them wearing them on a cool night by a campfire:) Man now I want one too! hehe

Mar 22, 2013

Well I thought if you can decorate dishware, walls and even your nails why not some furniture? It's easy, adorable,cheap, and doesn't take long to dry! So that's when I decided to attack my little ikea stool with some sharpie polka dots:)

I picked up this little stool for 14.99 at Ikea and you can find it here. Being the 4"11 shrimp I am I use it for EVERYTHING! I had painted it white before to brighten it up a bit.

So first you start with your supplies.

The hole punch I used is a size 1.5", but you could easily trace a bottle cap or something that has the size circle you want.

I just hole punched a piece of a cereal box then got to tracing.

I didn't strategically place them. I just eyeballed on what looked cool and confetti like.

Then just colored them in. This part was fun, but tricky making sure I didn't go outside the lines so be careful!

Just take your time and have fun. For only costing about $2 for the sharpie it was a nice, distracting craft.

I've been househunting lately which hasn't been as much fun as I hoped so it was nice to take my mind of it for awhile.

So why don't you add some polkadots to your life? Promise it will make ya feel better;)